The world’s major airlines have refused to transport whale products, but Norwegian whalers remain unconcerned, and undeterred in their pursuit of whale meat profits.
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Despite a global moratorium on commercial whale hunting and the sale of whale meat products, the Norwegian government dropped its ban on whale meat exports in January. Whalers and fishermen under the umbrella of the Høge Nord Alliansen are now waiting for export licences to be issued by the Department of Fisheries.
The whalers have already harvested over 400 tons of blubber, which is largely intended for the Japanese market. Environmental groups are also concerned about Japan’s continuation of its scientific whaling expeditions, which many claim is merely a smoke screen for commercial whaling operations.
Environmental group Greenpeace recently revealed that 21 international airlines, including British Airways, Lufthansa, Air France, KLM and Sabena, have refused to fly Norwegian blubber to Japan. Carriers controlled by Braathens, Coast Air, Widerøe’s, Scandinavian SAS and Icelandair have refused to support the boycott however.
